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America Defaces Trayvon Martin

The verdict Not Guilty was a huge blow but not necessarily unexpected, the circus gathered and set up shop in a timely fashion and the performance was disturbingly familiar and hauntingly ceremonial.

Trayvon Martin’s killer George Zimmerman endured a gripping trial procedure and was found not guilty, the jury consisted of six women – five were Caucasian and one Hispanic. That fact might have some insight as to why the verdict shaped up to be what it became but the pulsating issue that has held most of the nation captive is that an adult male took the initiative to shoot an unarmed teenager dead and managed to not only escape captivity but has been declared innocent.

The Trayvon Martin case has unequivocally intoxicated all of us with the drippings of what we already knew but now we are overdosing and it could very well be our undoing. Black males are hunted animals and have absolutely no rights. Racial profiling has been a way of life for the black community but it has never cut so deep until now.

We are now living in a country that allows and permits young black males to be stalked, intimidated, threatened and alternately murdered without penance. The realization of this is hard to comprehend or accept but it is now our reality thanks to the justice system which has been splendidly set up to accommodate the dehumanization and eradication of African-American males.

How do we assimilate the treacherous package that we have been so forcefully fed? By accepting the tragic terms that come with the message and making it our mission to stand firm and true that despite this major setback, we will still overcome.

The cable networks ushered in their law experts who were undoubtedly on standby and the juggling acts commenced – each professional trying to outweigh the other. Every scenario was re-created; perhaps the prosecution overcharged which set the blueprint for a case that would ultimately surrender to the defense. The spinning wheel goes on and on and will continue for what will seem like an eternity but we will never quite understand why the lead detective argued so passionately in favor of Zimmerman and why the prosecutors never saw the dire need to object. Or why the prosecutors allowed the dummy demonstrations illustrating the now deceased teen on top and his murderer on the bottom to play out in such a graphically destructive way.

All we can do is strategically elevate our spirits and take ownership of the facts as grim as they are without any filters. Zimmerman will get his gun back and will have the opportunity to kill again without hesitation. He saw a black male in a hoodie and bought into the messages that the media so blatantly displays during their morning routine – the mages of criminal activity is almost always assigned to a particular group of men and we have been brainwashed to accept this travesty without question.

The media has been playing a devilish game all this while by inhabiting the roles of both instigator and referee. But now the time has come for all parties to objectify their pursuits and auto-correct the murkiness.

This isn’t snakes and ladders, this is a life that was unnecessarily taken by an adult who decided that he was being attacked in a fashion that warranted such drastic measures. He thought nothing about shooting Trayvon Martin in the chest, which almost always guarantees death, and didn’t consider restraining him in a way that could have elicited a more bearable outcome.

But that was not to be and we are left with a distorted view of what America the Beautiful really stands for and a sense of uncertainty and anxiety for the future.

The truth hurts and right now it stings but how can we restore the defaced image of a gunned down black teenager?

That’s a hard question to thoroughly answer now, but down the road I suspect it won’t be so challenging. I have to believe that or else I won’t survive the downfall. Pledge to restore and enhance the image of Trayvon Martin – it was once so beautiful…